Part 16 (1/2)

”Ride, don't you?”

”Oh, yes, but not in the fas.h.i.+on that cowboys can,” said Dave, and then he invited Sid Todd to sit down with them, which the cowboy did. He was a man of about forty, tall and leathery. His eyes were bubbling over with good humor, but they could become very stern when the occasion demanded it. Laura had become well acquainted with him during her former visit to the ranch, and knew that the Endicotts trusted him implicitly.

While he had taught her how to ride, cowgirl fas.h.i.+on, she had taken a number of snapshot photographs for him, to be sent to some relative in the South, and for these he had been very grateful.

”We want to do a lot of riding, and a lot of hunting and fis.h.i.+ng, too,”

said the senator's son. ”Do you think we'll have a chance for much sport?”

”I dunno,” answered Sid Todd, dryly. ”Might be the game will hear of your coming and move on to the next State,” and his eyes twinkled over his little joke.

”I'd like to see some kind of a round-up,” said Phil. ”Will there be one while we are here?”

”Might be, Mr.--I didn't quite catch your handle.”

”Phil Lawrence. Just call me Phil.”

”I will if you'll call me Todd, or Sid. I can't git used to this mister business nohow. Besides, the boys would have the laugh on me, if they heard you a-mistering me all the time.”

”All right, Sid it is,” said Dave. ”And I'm Dave.”

”And I am Roger,” added the senator's son.

”About that round-up,” continued the cowboy. ”Might see something of the sort, for Mr. Endicott is goin' to sell some cattle the end of the month, and they'll be driven off to another range. But you'll see enough of cattle anyway, before you go home, if you are going to stay a month or six weeks.”

”Any fis.h.i.+ng?” queried the s.h.i.+powner's son.

”Yes, plenty of fis.h.i.+ng, back in the mountains. One place there you can catch a barrel or two of fish in ten minutes--if you've got lines enough,” and once more Sid Todd chuckled at his joke.

It was a three hours' run to Bramley, for the train stopped at many little stations and at some crossings where there were no stations at all. At one point they came to a halt where there was a large corral, and the boys and girls watched the efforts of several cowboys to la.s.so a bronco that was untrained. The bronco eluded the rope with apparent ease.

”Some of 'em are mighty tricky,” explained Sid Todd. ”I remember two years ago, we had one bronco n.o.body at the Star could touch. I reckon he was sure mad, for finally he bit Hank Snogger, and Hank had to treat him to a dose of lead.”

”Is Hank Snogger still with Mr. Endicott?” questioned Laura.

”No, he ain't,” answered Sid Todd, shortly. ”He left two months ago. A good job done, too,” added the cowboy.

”Who was this Hank Snogger?” asked Dave, in a low voice of his sister, for he saw that the subject was distasteful to Todd.

”He was one of the cowboys working for Mr. Endicott,” answered Laura.

”He was rather a queer kind of a man.”

”Bramley's just ahead,” announced Sid Todd, presently. ”Maybe you can catch sight of somebody you know,” he added to Laura, as the train rounded the curve of a small hill.

”I see a young lady on horseback, and a man!” cried Dave's sister a few minutes later. ”It's Belle, and her father! They came to meet us! Oh, I must signal to them!” And she waved her handkerchief from the car window. Soon Belle Endicott saw it, and waved her big straw hat in return.

”Welcome to the West!” she cried, merrily, as she dashed up on her pony beside the railroad tracks. ”Oh, I was so afraid you wouldn't come!”

”And I was so afraid you'd miss our telegram and wouldn't meet us,”